Burglar escapes from police custody day after arrest

LUDHIANA: Within 24 hours of his arrest, a burglar escaped from police custody on Saturday morning in a dramatic fashion. The police team gave him a chase, but he managed to flee. It is alleged that he escaped, along with his handcuffs, but officials have not confirmed it yet.
On Friday, Dugri police arrested a burglar, Mani Kumar of Jawahar Nagar. The police also conducted a press conference in the evening to announce it. On Saturday morning, police took Mani Kumar for recovery of the burgled amount to his brother’s house where he had hid the stolen amount, but when they returned, the accused escaped from police custody outside the police station.

Mani was arrested on Friday in a case of burglary on 18 June for stealing Rs1.28 lakh from the house of Harmeet Singh of GK Enclave in Jawaddi. He was captured in a CCTV camera, and the police managed to solve the case in four days by arresting him. After his arrest, Mani confessed to the police that the same day (18 June) he had burgled the house of a cycle parts trader, Vinod Kumar of Model Town Extension, and decamped with Rs7 lakh in cash and about 400g gold. He also revealed that he had hidden the stolen stuff at his brother’s house. Following this, a four-member team led by ASI Gurmail Singh took him along for recovery of the gold and cash.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP-II) Sandeep Sharma said: “The police took Mani for recovery on Saturday morning and recovered Rs4 lakh in cash and 400g gold. The accused had hidden the stuff at his brother’s house, therefore the police took his brother Sunny Kumar too in custody. After recovery, as soon as the police team reached outside the police station, Sunny started complaining about a severe stomach- ache. The cops started talking to him, and taking advantage of the situation, Mani managed to escape.”

According to Dugri police, Sunny pretended to have a stomach-ache in order to escape from custody. The Dugri police have registered a case under Section 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) of the IPC against the accused.